Sharing is Caring
by Kingyama
Summary: When Kise Ryouta has to share a textbook with the school's mysterious dark student, Aomine Daiki, he's not really hot and bothered about it. But what happens when that certain mystery writes him notes and answers in the page corners? How will Kise react? Eventually AoKise. American High School AU. Rated M for later chapters and explicit language/suggestive themes.
1. Prologue: 7K5T

**DISCLAIMER** :: I do not own KNB or it's characters. However, I do own this story. Please do not redistribute without permission.

Prologue:: 7K5T

* * *

"I'm sorry Ryouta but due to the limited school budget on textbooks, you'll have to share your book with another student in the class." The teacher spoke with concern, as if sharing a textbook was the hardest thing in the world. Kise just blinked behind his reading glasses, astonished that the teacher was acting like he had to share his liver with someone else.

"Okay Mr. Garrison." Kise responded quickly, earning a smile from his superior. The teacher wrote something down on a sticky note and handed it to the blond, who picked it up carefully while reading the number and name.

"This is your textbook number and the other person who will also be assigned to this textbook. I advise that you get to know this person well and assign textbook times or even meet up. We will be using the textbook a lot throughout this school year." Mr. Garrison smiled deeply, his wrinkles slowly forming near his eyes and forehead. Kise nodded again and re-read the scribble on the small yellow note.

"Literature and Composition #7K5T. Daiki Aomine." Kises's heart skipped a beat when he re-read the name to himself. Anyone that went to that school for even a month would be stupid to not know who Daiki Aomine was. He had heard about this kid from the students in his class. Daiki was his name and although Kise had never seen him, people would say that his gaze could pierce through a soul and his whole presence make a person freeze. Some said that he used to mob people and steal from gangs. A lot of students were afraid of him, not bothering to talk to him because they had assumed that the ridiculous stories they had heard were true. Kise didn't believe it, or rather, he didn't want to believe it. He just wanted to live a peaceful life as a student studying abroad in America.

And that meant no more boyfriends or sloppy nights or crazy parties.

Yes, Kise was so hopelessly gay and he loved it. But the blond moved that part of him aside as he tried to appreciate the bounce of a curl and the roundness of a hip. The blond just wanted to be quiet and get through his high school years in America with no drama, then go back home to his parents and older sisters in Japan.

"Thank you sir. If you will excuse me." Kise bowed at his teacher and stuffed the note in his pocket before turning on his heels, heading towards the hallway. He had moved to America a year ago and was living a very comfortable life with his host family. There was no drama, no boyfriends and definitely no modeling once he moved. And he wanted to keep it that for as long as he could. The drama, well—boyfriend—that he had left behind in Japan was rather messy, and he wanted to disappear from that as soon as possible.

Even since Kise could remember, he had been interested in other cultures—other languages—to be exact. He could easily memorize a language within months and copied other people's tones and body language when speaking it. Learning different languages came naturally to him so when a position opened up at his school to travel to America for two years he was ecstatic. Immediately applying and getting the position, Kise packed up his things and moved in with his host family within the next week. Of course things were hard on his family, having to go two years without their lovely ball of sunshine, but they managed pretty well. The blond would send them letters every month and sometimes mail them crazy America snacks that he wasn't familiar with. His family was truly happy for him, and that made him proud.  
Kise excited the English classroom and continued down the hallway, turning swiftly on his heels when walking around a corner. Usually after class he would either try to leave super early before the crowds rush into the hallway or stay after to wait for it to die down. Kise—although loving to interact with people—hated being in confined spaces; and a crowded hallway took the number one spot on his list.

It was early in the evening and a few kids lingered in the hallways around their lockers, gossiping about their current plans for the upcoming weekend and whatever else Kise could idly pick up as he shuffled past them. Some of the girls glanced at him from their lockers, a shy look settling its way onto their face. Kise didn't know if it was because he was a foreigner, because he was attractive, or because they were shy that he was attracting to much attention.

He quickly crossed out the first two options, knowing that America was far more diverse than Japan and that no one would really know who he was since he was a Japanese model, and settled with the fact that they were just love struck or something. The blond had to admit though, he always looked good.

Kise always made sure that his outfits were 100% matching and styled, never letting his model wisdom leaving him. Colors like yellow and blue usually suited him best so he stuck with them for most of his outfit choices. Sometimes he wore fake blue-rimmed glasses with his outfits and sometimes he wore his reading ones, but no one would ever know the different. The beauty of his face distracted most of the students anyway. They gawked and gaped at Kise's natural beauty and some even had the nerve to come up to him and say things. The culture shock had been huge for Kise and a simple 'Hi' back in Japan would translate to a 'Oh my god you are so beautiful, are you a foreigner? Where did you come from? What are you here for?".

The blond quickly made his way past the students and out into the courtyard of his school, walking briskly to the student parking lot. The campus was mildly crowded, only a couple of students stood here and there; most likely the ones attending certain clubs and waiting for their practice to start. Kise ignored some of the girls that were gazing at him and held the feeling to throw up as he glanced at his watch. He groaned loudly as he read the time, 3:28. He didn't want to be late or else he would have to walk home.

Rushing past the sloth-like students and making his way to a white Kia Optima that sat on the opposite side of the parking lot, Kise called out to his recent best friend that he had made since moving to America.

"Hey! Kuroko!" Kise waved, hoping his friend would notice him before getting in the car and driving off. Kuroko smiled softly at the larger male as they greeted each other with a handshake before Kise threw his backpack into the trunk. The blond was truly glad that he had met someone he got along with nicely at his new school. Kuroko was a quiet soul that usually avoided drama and big crowds; which was right up Kise's alley. Even though Kise was a big time model back in Japan, he didn't feel comfortable with the type of attention he could attract in America. Let's just say that American's are a lot more, _open_ , about their confrontations.

"You're seriously still going to call me by my last name, Ryouta?" Kuroko chuckled while putting the key in ignition, starting the car and turning the AC on. Kise laughed and scratched the back of his neck, feeling some sweat droplets forming there. The summer was truly no joke in California and he had hoped to grab a water bottle on the way to the car. He settled himself into his seat before strapping up stretching his legs out. The blond yawned, the day had been long and tiresome and he just wanted to go home and sleep.

"I'm sorry. I can't drop all my Japanese traditions you know!" Kise laughed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He checked to see if he had any messages and upon noticing that he didn't, closed his phone and leaned his head into the car seat.

"What made you so late anyways? I was seriously about to leave you know." Kuroko asked, slowly pulling out of the student parking lot and leaving the school grounds behind. Kise closed his eyes and sank further into the seat, knowing that his friend wasn't seriously upset.

"Mr. Garrison said I'll be sharing a textbook with some other student in his class. He acts as if the textbook is a heart of gold and I have to respect it and the person I'm sharing it with." Kise rolled his eyes and huffed sarcastically, noting that whenever he spoke fluent English and had well pronunciation, Kuroko would smile and shake his head; trying to tease him in some sort of way.

"Damn you and your English. So who's this angel that you have to get along with huh?" Kuroko said as he sped up to a green traffic light. However, the light quickly changed from green to yellow and Kuroko suddenly smashed on the breaks when he heard the response he got from his exhausted friend in the passenger seat.

"Daiki Aomine." Kise said indifferently, feeling rather relaxed with the cold air blowing directly on his face, but the feeling only lasted a moment as he was almost lounged forward, thanking the heavens that he had put his seatbelt on. His heart almost jumped out of his chest and he looked around, realizing that everything was calm outside around them. He then looked at Kuroko and was about to tell him off when he saw the shock in his face.

"DAIKI AOMINE? TALL, DARK, MYSTERIOUS AOMINE?" Kuroko all but screamed as his voice begged for an answer from Kise. The blond's brows just furrowed in confusion at his friends random outburst.

"Y-yeah... What about him?" Kise asked, positioning himself back into his seat as the flash light turned green and the car started accelerating again. Kuroko shook his head and gripped the steering wheel tighter, the sound from his hands and the leather slowly being heard.

"I used to hang with him. But when we got into high school he changed... a lot. I would stay away from him if I were you." Kuroko stated as he pulled up to Kise's host parent's house. It was a small house off the Main Street that the school branched off of and honestly Kise would have no problem walking home; he just didn't want to. Besides, he enjoyed Kuroko's company. The blunette usually had tons of stories to tell him by the end of the day during their frequent—but short—car rides home. As Kise got out of the car and opened the trunk to reach for his bag, Kuroko rolled down the window and stuck his head out.

"Seriously. I would request a book change, immediately." Kuroko added, before waving and rolling the window back up. He drove off quickly and left a bewildered and confused Kise in its wake.

What was so bad about this guy?

* * *

Hello hi whats up whats crackin'. It's like 4am and I'm editing this to upload because I'm impatient and I can't wait until later to upload this. I just recently thought of this AU today and I was like "I HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT IT". I swear guys I'm falling deeper and deeper into AoKise hell. It's happening.

But yeah here's a crappy, short, not really detailed prologue of what this story will be about. Please let me know if you're interested in it or not; because if not then I can continue writing more for MTG. If you see any typos or something that looks off please tell me and I'll fix it ASAP.

-Cryle


	2. Lapse

**DISCLAIMER** :: I do not own KNB or it's characters. However, I do own this story. Please do not redistribute without permission.

Chapter I: Lapse

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"Do you want to explain to me what that was about yesterday, Kuroko?" Kise asked his light blue haired friend who just stared blankly at him—although his eyes were looking somewhere far off—and shook his head while sipping his vanilla milkshake. They had started talking about the events from the day before and how Kuroko had flipped out and almost left Kise stranded.

"You do know who he is, don't you?" Kuroko answered Kise's question with a question, which resulted in an aggravated blond who nibbled away at a piece of lettuce.

"Of course I know. All the rumors around school pretty much paint the picture for me. I haven't even seen the guy and I already know his life story. The better question is, what do _you_ know about him Kuroko? When you hung out with him I mean." Kise picked at his salad while a group of obnoxious students entered the cafeteria.

Kise's new school—Johnson High—was currently in the middle of it's lunch hour, and students gathered in the cafeteria like sheep being herded. Kise was stunned by the amount of kids that rushed into the food court during lunch hour; however, it still didn't top the lunch time rush that was famous in Japan. The blond had gotten used to eating in a crowded and busy cafeteria and now the noise didn't bother him as much. So when the group of rowdy teens entered, it didn't unnerve him. Despite that, Kise could see the evident cold sweat break out across his friends face.

"Kuroko. Did you hear me?" Kise asked, reaching across the table and shaking the blue haired male's arm. Kise was completely oblivious to the fact that Kuroko was staring right at the group that had just entered the cafeteria, his eyes fixed on them for a good amount of time before Kise's shaking finally shook him—literally—back to reality.

"O-oh. Yeah sorry. Why do you keep calling me by my last name! We use first names in America, _Ryouta_." Kuroko replied annoyingly, shaking his arm away from Kise's grasp before indulging himself in his half empty vanilla milkshake. Completely ignoring the fact that Kuroko had dismissed his question, the blond smiled at his friend's choice of words, deciding that ultimately—he was right. He didn't want to seem like a total nerd, he wanted to blend in while in America.

"Well. How about I spice it up a bit then?" Kise suggested, nibbling away at the chicken slices that were sprinkled on top of his salad.

"How do you propose that?"

"I could add something cool to the end of your last name. Like maybe a cool nickname. That way I won't look like a _total_ loser." Kise emphasized his last sentence with a slur, earning himself a smack in the face with some napkins that were expertly tossed across the table from a chuckling blunette.

"Okay. Lay it on me. What cool nicknames do you have in mind." Kuroko waited patiently for Kise to come up with some badass nicknames for him. Something along the lines of light blue shadow seemed to sit with him nicely. Little did he know, that his idea and Kise's idea of nicknames were completely different. When Kise finally looked up, he had a smirk written across his face.

"cchi." He simply stated, waiting for the unpredictable response from Kuroko.

"...What?"

"Cchi. Rhymes with tea. It's a popular nickname in Japan." Kise smiled brightly, like he had just discovered the cure for cancer. Kuroko just gaped at him, he couldn't be serious, could he?

"So you're just gonna call me Cchi now?"

"No silly! Kuroko-cchi! Kurokocchi! It has a nice ring to it!" Kise giggled and kept picking at his salad, eating only a little at a time.

"Oh god this is worse than I thought." Kuroko hung his head, almost embarrassed to be seen with the blond. He was so hopelessly... naïve. And happy. Way way way too happy. The blunette finished his milkshake and stood up, getting ready to recycle the plastic cup.

"You done with that?" Kuroko asked Kise, pointing to his salad. The blond only waved him off and started humming to himself. He was way too happy for someone who just found out a new way to humiliate themselves. Seriously. Cchi? What was he five? Kuroko shook his head again and walked away, heading for the recycling bin on the other side of the cafeteria.

He had to admit, even if he was ready to punch the blond for his obliviousness, he was a great friend and a nice companion to have for the school year. When he met Kise in sophomore year, the one thing that surprised him more than anything was how perfect Kise's English was. Not only was he fluent, but he didn't have an accent or stumble on really difficult words that even some of the _native_ English speakers struggled with—and that said a lot. Since Kuroko and Kise were both very educated and interested in language and composition, they bonded well in their sophomore English class.

Fast forward to this year, their Junior year, and they were still the same two idiots who debated about wether the penny should be removed from the U.S. Currency with Synthesis essays. They never really hung out with anybody else. Kise—wanting to just blend in and not cause any drama in America—and Kuroko—who was just a shadow anyways—didn't have a bunch of friends that would gossip and rant about every little thing said popular person did at said party. They liked the serenity of their friendship and their lack of friends. From an outsiders prospective, they almost looked as if they were dating, but they were so much closer than that. Brothers, if you will.

"Are you just going to stand there or shall I move you myself?" A gruff voice was heard behind Kuroko, causing him to almost flinch at how close the person was. He recognized the voice immediately, tingling at the sensation of their warm breath dancing across the back of his neck.

"Kagami." Kuroko breathed out, dumping his cup and turning around to face the larger male. Indeed it was Kagami, the red haired hot head that Kuroko went out with last year. He looked like a lion ready to bounce on his prey, eyes never leaving Kuroko's and a death glare _almost_ as piercing as Aomine's.

"I haven't seen you all summer. I miss you, you know. I saw you looking at me when I walked in." Kagami stepped closer, closing the already small gap between the two of them. No one in the cafeteria seemed to notice as they chatted away, too preoccupied with their own drama—so Kagami took this to his advantage. Kuroko seemed unfazed, having been dealt with this side of Kagami for a long time now, he wasn't intimidated anymore.

"I thought we talked about this." Kuroko spat out, his voice bordering the edge of shouting and anger, and he clenched his fists. He really didn't want to have this talk, _again_ , with his ex.

"I can't accept that it's over. Everything I do somehow leads to you. I wanna sit down and talk.. Please. Just let me prove to you that I can be a better boyfriend." Kagami slowly wrapped his arms around Kuroko's waist, inching his face closer to the smaller male's, but he was suddenly stopped by a quick hand to his cheek. It stung so much that he had to clench his face and step back, astonished that such anger could brew in such a little body.

"What else is there to talk about?! You cheated on me with Tatsuya, tried to sabotage my friendship with Daiki, who I—by the way—had no feelings for, and tried to trick Seijuro into thinking I was cheating on him!" This time Kuroko's voice rose up another octave and he started to gather attention. He cursed under his breath, moving away from Kagami before leaving him with something to think about.

"Don't feed me lies about some idealistic future. If you really wanted me that badly you would think before you act." Kuroko growled angrily and hurried off, a little embarrassed by the stares he was getting. The blunette ran up to Kise, who had finished his salad, and yanked at his arm. He had to think of some excuse to explain why it took him over 3 minutes to throw something away. Although him and Kise were very close, he didn't want to bother Kise with his burdens from the past. He didn't want Kise to know about the red head, not just yet. The blunette just wanted to push those memories away and focus on the good ones. Like Akashi asking him to go out with him over the summer. And how Kise had basically popped up in his life right after Kagami had left it.

"Come on! I think Mr. Garrison will give extra test points for people who are early!" Kuroko grabbed his bag sloppily, getting situated before pulling Kise up and off of the cafeteria table.

"Okay okay! Slow down Kurokocchi!"

"Oh no not again."

* * *

Once Kuroko had finished playfully scolding Kise about the new nickname, the two headed to Mr. Garrison's English III class. They got in rather early, and the teacher was more than happy to give them extra points on the next test. Kise always noted that compared to Japanese classrooms, the students always migrated, not the teachers. In Japan, there's only one set class that students sit in, while the teachers rotate.

But in America, it was the opposite. When Kise first moved to California he had a hard time memorizing his schedule and where all the classes were; but Kuroko helped him with it when they had first met. The classroom smelled of fresh air as the breeze blowing into the classroom from outside cooled down the warm summer temperatures of the room. Although it was early September, the sun didn't cease to scorch the earth below it. Kise took one of the assignment sheets and started to fan himself, the sweat droplets around his forehead tickled and he wiped his head. A few minutes passed as Mr. Garrison continued his speech, and Kise's forehead sweat was bothering him immensely. His golden bangs were sticking to his skin and he finally decided to pull his hair back, which created a group of girls in the back of the class giggling and blushing. Kise couldn't really do anything about his looks, so the attention he got from being good looking didn't bother him or his plans of playing it safe in America.

"Okay class. Take out your assigned textbooks under your seat and turn to page 50." Mr. Garrison demanded, walking over to his oak colored desk to get his teacher copy of the Literature and Composition book. Kise immediately reached under his desk to grab his book, not thinking anything in particular as his body heat was more of a concern.

It wasn't until he opened the front cover and saw the name that was written on the back of it that he froze in his place.

 **This book belongs to:**

 **Daiki Aomine 2014-2015**

Kise clicked his tongue, how _rude_. He knew that he had to share this book with Kise, _surely_ he knew. If he had already written his name in it, he probably had Mr. Garrison's class in the morning and was told about sharing the book. That must mean that he deliberately wrote his name in it anyways. The blond's assumptions of Aomine's schedule were only confirmed as he saw dark blue ink and small, scratchy hand writing in the corner of the book. So, he had already written in it as well?

" _Ryouta huh. So you're Japanese too? Look, I'm sharing this book with you, so don't vandalize it. I care about my education too. And don't get in my way with studying with the textbook either_." Kise read the note in his head and clicked his tongue yet again, he wasn't paying attention to class at all now. The only thing he was focused on was how _stupid_ this guy was. Not only had he rudely took the claim for the textbook, but he also told Kise to not vandalize it—despite his already irremovable blue ink—even after doing it himself. And he also had the nerve to call him by his first name _knowing_ that they were both Japanese. How dare he do something so informal.

Kise came to the conclusion that this "Daiki" was unmannerly, stupid and hypocritical. Scoffing to himself, Kise got lost in his thoughts and completely forgot about the demands from his teacher. He let himself get so caught up over the little note that he took out his pencil—because graphite can actually be erased—and decided to give Aomine a piece of his mind.

"That's so sweet that you care about this book so much. However, you don't realize that you just vandalized it yourself with your non-removable ink. I'm glad that you care about your education, because obviously you need it." Kise scribbled across the corner of the book, grinning to himself as he wrote the last sentence.

That should show him.

The blond was quite proud of himself, putting that idiot in his place. He placed his elbows on the desk and grinned brightly, causing the girls that were looking at him before to show even more interest. As much as he didn't want to have anything to do with this mysterious Aomine, Kise knew that them meeting would be inevitable. Hell, they had to use the same exact study tool for one of the hardest classes in the damn school. Regardless of that fact, Kise wasn't just going to let this dude stomp all over him—no matter how tough or how superior he was. Kise could fight back too you know, and usually his hard personality didn't surface unless something irked him the wrong way. His beautiful mien usually deceived anyone who would try to use him; specifically girls. As he sat there zoning off, he contemplated the rumors going around about Aomine—mostly contradicting what was written in the textbook. The blond remembered the first time he was in his Chemistry class—he worked with a bunch of girls—and they had filled him in on things going on at the school. When they told him about Aomine, they all seemed to hear different things, none of their stories coming from a reliable source.

 _"My cousin told me that he gave someone a heart attack with just his eyes"_

 _"Someone else told me that fucked three girls all at once because they all wanted to go to homecoming with him."_

 _"I heard that he's the son of this big oil rig company and earns loads of money."_

 _"Well I heard that he doesn't give a rats ass about education and sometimes sneaks on the roof and sleeps. The roof guys! The roof! How the hell do you get up there?!"_

Kise grew a slight headache from thinking about the loads of information, probably all inaccurate, that he had heard about Aomine. Did no one really know him well enough to tell a true story about his past, his childhood? Surely Kuroko knew, but he stopped hanging out with him just recently and Kise didn't want to bring up bad memories. The blond looked down at the note in the corner of the book again and smiled brightly

"Oh yeah, he _definitely_ doesn't care about his education." Kise said to himself, almost busting out in laughter from the irony. This was too much—just what was he getting himself into?

"Kise. What are you doing?" Kuroko reached across the open aisle and poked Kise's arm, causing his friend to slightly jump up in surprise and turn to the seat next to him.

"N-nothing? What are you doing?" The blond tried to play it cool, flipping quickly through the textbook to the desired page Mr. Garrison had wanted.

"I've been staring at you for the past 5 minutes. What are you so smiley about?" Kuroko questioned in a whisper, trying not to catch Mr. Garrisons attention as he continued his lecture.

"I'll tell you after class, it's about Daiki."

* * *

 **A/N** ;; HI!1111111111. Today was a very, very long day of traveling. Both of my flights were delayed like a mug and I got home 5 hours later than I originally planned. So, I had A LOT of extra time to write this chapterrrr. I realize that it's kind of short and boring but that's how most things are in the beginning. You got to set up them characters man. I guess I don't really have anything else to say. Don't worry, I'm still working on MTG as we speak, so that'll be out soon.

 **Angelark** : HI c: thank you for taking the time out of your day to review for me. The first couple chapters of this will be kind of slow, but I promise things will speed up soon. Unfortunately, our tanned guy won't be formally introduced until later -wink- Thank you for supporting me !

If you see any typos or anything that looks off, please let me know. Much regards

-Cryle


	3. Antiquity

**DISCLAIMER** :: I do not own KNB or it's characters. However, I do own this story. Please do not redistribute without permission.

Chapter II: Antiquity

* * *

"I'm home!" Kise yelled as he entered his small house, kicking off his shoes near the door. Since no one else in the house ever used their small tile floor near the front door for their shoes—Kise's host family reserved it just for him to kick his shoes off before walking on the carpet. In some odd way it made him feel more at home. He ruffled his hair and walked down the hallway that was splashed with family photos hanging on the sides of the wall. Glancing at them quickly, Kise smiled and entered the white arch way that opened up to his left to reveal the kitchen. The blond was happily greeted by his older host sister rumbling around in the fridge. The kitchen was coated in sterling silver and dark metals and two lamps hung from the ceiling with a spacious island underneath. Two black stools were behind the island and a huge bowl of fruit sat on top of the dark coated counter. Long counters with plentiful space ran down the side of the wall, paired with the oven and the sonic silver covered refrigerator.

"Kise! You're home early. Do you want something to eat? Mom and Dad won't be home until later. Apparently something came up at work." She turned around and chucked a water bottle at Kise—it started to become a tradition—as he shook his head at the offer and made his was to the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"No thanks Elle. I'll just wait." Kise slowly twisted the cap of the bottle and drank vigorously—the summer heat was not only exhausting him but dehydrating him and he hated getting headaches more than anything. He just wished time would speed up and that October would come faster so the awkward September head would leave. Elle picked up her own water bottle and made her way over to Kise, standing on the opposite side of the island and leaning in on the marble—her elbows resting on top. The blond just smiled at his host sister and continued drinking, idly reaching for his phone every now and then.

Elle was one of those girls that could be so caring and loving one minute but—if you tried to present them with a package of bullshit—could turn on you in a matter of seconds. She didn't tolerate any type of lies or deceiving or falseness: resulting in her being the realist you could get out of a girl. Her curvy body didn't exactly fit "skinny standards" but she was by no means fat. Her dark black hair fell a little down past her elbows and she had bangs that flew right across her face over her eyebrows. Her eyes almost matched her hair in the sunlight—dark brown—and her skin was a slight mix between caramel and tan. Kise thought she was gorgeous, and if he wasn't interested in boys—and if he wasn't living like a brother to her—he would've probably made a move on Elle.

"Hey. You okay? You're zoning out." Elle asked, bending across the counter and flashing her manicured hand in front of the blond's face. Kise laughed some and shook his head from side to side, finishing up the last drops of his water. He stood up and walked over to the recycling bin, throwing it away and turning back to his stool where his book bag was.

"I'm fine. Just tired. I'm gonna head upstairs, call me if you need me." Kise picked up his bag that he had flung down earlier and headed for the stairs. He climbed them slowly and when he finally got to the room at the end of the hall, he busted through the door and tossed the bag down next to the entryway. Exhausted, he jumped on top of his king size bed and groaned loudly, stuffing his face into his pillow. He finally let his thoughts overtake him and he thought about the events prematurely that day. The conversation that he had earlier with Kuroko stuck in his head on repeat, looping over and over every time Aomine's name was mentioned. He didn't want to admit it, but he had now taken an interest in this mysterious guy. Earlier he wanted nothing to do with him, but now that the proclaimed thug had spoke to him—even if it wasn't verbal—he knew that he couldn't ignore him anymore. He hadn't even seen his face once but in his mind he pictured a big doofus hiding behind a thick, menacing facade.

 _"So what happened in the textbook?" Kuroko asked, making his way to his car with the blond. It was after school and they were leaving for the day, heading towards the student parking lot._

 _"He just wrote something idiotic in it and I retorted with something witty." Kise acted like he couldn't care less about the topic now, chucking his book bag into Kuroko's trunk before hopping into the passenger seat of the Kia Optima. The light blue haired male stayed silent, keeping his blue eyes fixed onto the road as they exited the school campus and headed towards Kise's house._

 _"When I used to hang out with him... He was pretty cool. He isn't actually as shitty as everyone says he is. And he's not some stone hard brick either. He has feelings—emotions—just like everybody else. It's not my place to give away personal family information, but, he is who he is because of it. And it's sad. When we entered high school, his family situation got worse. He lashed out at anyone that even remotely came off as dangerous.." Kuroko paused, giving himself time to collect his thoughts as Kise looked at him with incertitude. Golden brown eyes met light blue and they stayed that way until Kuroko spoke again, turning his face back towards the steering wheel._

 _"He was one of my closest friends and then he just, changed. He started ignoring everyone, hanging with the wrong crowd and going through girl after girl. Sometimes he would hook up with a guy, but only in secret. He needed his new found reputation to stay clean. Not like it wasn't already fucked up with all the other stuff he proclaimed to be doing." As they were slowly approaching Kise's neighborhood, the blond shifted uncomfortably, wanting to hear the rest of Kuroko's story before he got home._

 _"Once he stopped talking to me, I guess you can say I just vanished into the background of high school. Then, you shortly came along after that." Kise smiled at the last sentence, unbuckling his seat belt once Kuroko pulled into his driveway. The small male put the car in park and looked over at Kise, his eyes holding something different in them but Kise couldn't tell what it was._

 _"If you have to hang out with him because of this whole book situation, just please be careful. I haven't talked to him in forever and he could be worse than before."_

Kise rubbed the back of his head and groaned, shifting his body uncomfortably on top of the blankets. Who was this Daiki? Hurting people, abandoning his old friends, and for what? Popularity? Attention? The blond turned over until he was on his back and stared up at the ceiling. He only had English homework to do—that didn't involve the textbook—so he lifted the blanket up from under him and curled into a ball, not giving a rats ass about anything else before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"Kise. Wake up! I wanna go to a party!" Kise was slowly brought out of his sleep by a light shake. He groaned and rolled back over, turning his back towards the voice. A stomp of a foot and another hard shake awoke him fully, and he sat up in his bed, blinking wildly.

"W-what?" The blond rubbed his eyes and put his hands over his face, shielding his eyes from the blinding light coming from the ceiling. His bed head was flying in all directions and the voice that had spoke earlier started to laugh.

"Sorry Kise. I didn't mean to wake you from your beauty slumber." Elle was standing on the side of his bed, her giggle resounding throughout the room. Kise's mood slowly changed from annoyed to gentle as he finally opened his eyes that had adjusted to the light.

"It's alright. What did you want again?" Kise yawned, putting his hand over his mouth and looking over at Elle. She was covered in a beautiful golden dress that only accentuated her curves and brought out the color of her skin. She wore matching flats and had her hair pulled back into a small bun, a couple of messy strands fell on her face. Obviously Kise thought she looked beautiful but wondered why the hell she was all dressed up this late at night.

"Come to a party with me! I _really_ don't want to go alone." Elle begged, tempted to reach across the bed and drag Kise out of it. He was still slightly drowsy so he yawned and stretched, deciding to ponder on the actuality of going to a party on a school night.

"You know I have school tomorrow morning. And what about Mom and Dad?" Sometimes the shock of calling two adults that were not biologically his mother and father—mom and dad—, crept up on Kise, but he shook it off because he knew how respectful they were, and how respectful they were of him. Still concerned about sneaking out at whatever time it currently was, Kise looked up at Elle with a pleading face. But she wouldn't falter, her gaze as stone cold as ever.

"They said you could come since they don't want me going alone." Elle smiled, already closing all the loopholes that would would try to think of to get out of going, and roughly grabbed Kise's arm, almost jerking him out of bed.

"Ok Ok I'm coming!"

* * *

This was a horrible idea.

In his groggy state, Kise was pulled out of bed and shoved into his closet by his host sister so he could put on a different set of clothes. He pondered why he couldn't just go in his regular school outfit—which he was still wearing—but dismissed the thought because he was afraid to say something that would only irritate Elle. Throughout all his years of modeling he was conditioned to waking up at least three hours early before a scheduled plan. This gave him time to ease his way out of sleep, and to let all of his managers construct things accordingly. Unfortunately, Kise was forever stuck to that routine, so pulling him out of bed and demanding him to get ready within five minutes was something he could just not do.

But, Elle had wanted this and since Kise didn't want her to go to the party alone either, he agree'd and started to slowly pick out an outfit: black dress pants with a dark blue shirt and a black matching jacket. He slipped his white socks on and ran over to the mirror, running his hands through his hair and popping some mints in his mouth. Although he didn't want to be noticed, he still had to look presentable wherever he went; in case he _was_ noticed.

Another habit picked up from his modeling days.

Once the blond was finished messing with his hair he ran over to his phone to check the time.

"8 at night? What time are we planning to come back?" Kise yelled through his room and down the stairs to Elle, who had already started to make her way to the front door. He assumed that their parents weren't even home yet—given how Elle had told him not to worry earlier—and proceeded to yell to her down the hallway.

"12, maybe 1 or 2. Who knows. If I get drunk enough, then 3." Elle laughed, sarcasm slightly oozing out of her voice. She knew that Kise wanted to go back home as soon as possibly so she kept extending the times for her own amusement.

With the click of his heel and a grab of the phone, Kise made his way out of his room, down the stairs and out the door with Elle.

This came as a surprise to the blond foreigner at first, but he had slowly gotten used to the hot summer days and the cold nights. The air would nip at his skin and he would always remind himself to bring something warmer next time for whatever nightly excursion he was on.

So when he stepped outside with Elle and shivered at the slight cold breeze, he was glad that he brought a jacket with him. He watched as Elle rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm her body and locked the front door, throwing the key into her purse.

"Elle do you want my jacket?" Kise asked, but he was already taking the fabric off and pushing it in front of his sister's face, almost demanding that she use it.

"Thanks silly but we're gonna take my car. Unless it's within a half a mile radius, people don't usually walk to wherever they're going." Elle giggled, teasingly poking fun at Kise's old habits of having to walk everywhere. He couldn't help it, he just grew up that way. The same with the last names. It was just a thing that would forever be stuck with him. It was his culture. Along with the geography, everything in America was sprawled out because of the excessiveness of land. However, in Japan things were clustered up due to the limited space of land.

They got in the bright blue Volkswagen beetle and as soon as the engine roared and the radio turned on, Kise felt ultimately relaxed. It was weird how whenever he got into a car he would transcend into the seat, letting all his muscles tense up and then ease out again. He loved the comfortableness that came with him when he sat in a car. Even though Kise insisted on walking almost everywhere unless someone offered to take him, he never overlooked the tranquility of relaxing in the car seat.

As Elle started to exit the drive way and leave the neighborhood, Kise let the humming noise of the engine reverberate in his ears and he almost mused at the sound. The smell of the leather filled his nostrils as he took slow breaths, the feeling of sleep blanketing over his mind once again.

"So, how's school? You still hanging out with that quiet guy Tetsuya?" Elle asked, and after a few seconds without a respond, she looked over at Kise who was about to fall asleep when she poked his thigh.

"Come on don't go to sleep on me! This party is going to be awesome. I even heard that some of your peers with be there." Elle kept her hands on the steering wheel as she occasionally looked over at Kise. When she finished her last sentence Kise cracked an eye open, suddenly interested in the conversation but completely ignoring her last question.

"My peers? At a college party?" It was true, Elle was starting her second year of college and usually didn't spend that much time at home, so when she got to hang out with her brother she took advantage of the situation. Even though this wasn't exactly Kises's idea of "spending time together."

When Elle nodded to his words, Kise whimpered, rubbing both of his sleepy eyes with the palms of his hands.

"Great. I really don't feel like dealing with anybody if they recognize me." The blond pouted, which resulted into Elle smirking.

"Most of the my friends say you're the cutest thing ever. They've seen all of your photo-books, even though they can't read Japanese they just gawk at the pictures." Elle giggled while Kise's throat let out a groan as he covered up his face more.

"Great. If I see anybody from class.." The blond started to say, but when he was reminded of a certain someone that he had to share a textbook with, he trailed off. This didn't go unnoticed by Elle, who raised an eyebrow at his sudden quietness.

"Hm? Who is it that you don't want to see?" She asked, turning the corner when they reached a different neighborhood.

"E-Elle..." The skidding of the tires startled the blond, and he was tempted to tell Elle about Aomine and how they would have to meet sooner of later, or even ask if she had heard about him, but he was stopped as they slowly pulled up to the house, which had tens of college kids drinking and yelling about.

"We're here!" Elle smiled, parking her car almost a full block away from the house that was littered with drunken students and red plastic cups. She turned the car off and glanced over at Kise who was so desperately trying to hold back his disgust for not wanting to be there; but alas, he couldn't.

"Okay Kise you're driving back home so you better be sober." Elle started in a sing-songy voice and Kise groaned for the millionth time that night, slowly getting out of the car and walking along side Elle. To be honest, he wanted to stay by her side the whole night, that way he could stop any idiots who tried to flirt with Elle, and he wouldn't have to try to fit in on his own since talking with her and her group of friends would be easy. But before he knew it, Elle had already busted through the front door, probably greeting her girlfriends and going to get beers.

Just great. Now Kise was left alone on the nippy summer night, alone and desperately wanting to go back home. He wanted to just crawl back in the car but Elle had already locked the doors on her way out knowing what Kise would probably have in mind.

 _"Maybe she just wants me to try and loosen up?"_ Kise though to himself, as he walked aimlessly past all the chattering students in the front yard. Some waved, some smiled and some just plain out ignored him. The blond was partially glad that they weren't as hormonal as the high schoolers at his school, or he would probably be eye fucked by a group of girls by now.

Holding his head down he maneuvered through the cluster of people, gravitating towards the insanely loud music blasting from somewhere in the house and making his way through the front door.

The first thing he noticed, was the smell.

It overpowered his nose and he had to cover his nostrils with his hand, almost choking on how vile the smell actually was.

A mixture of beer, wine, sweat and sex caked the oxygen in the air and Kise felt as if he was going to gag. The smell was so strong that he could feel his eyes watering and it took everything in him to not bolt right back around and go outside.

"How the hell do people do this?" Kise asked out loud to himself as he climbed over empty beer cans and colorful streamers. Fortunately, no one really paid attention to him enough to see how odd he looked in the crowd: clutching his stomach and putting his hand over his nose. Some might think he took too many beers and was about to regret it while others might think he was new to the whole party scene.

A slow, ambient song filled the air along with the pungent smell, giving the house the atmosphere of something disgusting yet creepy. From what Kise could see at least, aside from the crappy fake smoke floating in the air, was that he was in a huge living room and all the furniture had been moved to the side of the wall. Most likely to create a dance floor in the middle.

An ugly, puffy carpet was sprawled out on the wooden flooring and the dents that were created from people stomping about made Kise want to pick it up and fluff it back out. The color blended in with the floor and the stains of beer and juice were only visible under the timed strobe lights.

Kiss coughed, trying to rid his body of the odor that seemed to encase the house, and made his way to the kitchen.

"No one has ever seen the Host before." A voice spoke loudly next to Kise. He tried to tune out the sound as he focused on just getting something to drink and staying away from the crowd; yet his consciousness stuck to those words and his morals took the better of him as he grunted a response to the sentence.

"What kind of host is he? Not even talking to his guests. Rude." Kise snorted an inaudible—quiet—response, fluffing his right hand in his hair. The golden locks shined: as if they were reflecting the sun's rays. The only problem was that it was nighttime and the sun—and Kise's bright attitude—wouldn't return for a long time.

"He doesn't even go to College, yet he hosts these parties. He must be really high up." A girl giggled to Kise's left once he had walked past the zombies in the living room. As Kise heard the voice he did a double take, thinking it was the same girl from before.

" _Hell, does everybody talk about the same thing here?_ " Kise thought to himself, scanning the kitchen to try and find the punch bowl. It was a small, mahogany lined kitchen with hazel colored cabinets and shining black appliances. The room opened up through an archway—much like Kise's own kitchen—and showed a dining table to the left that was covered with red plastic cups and various drinks, and a counter full of snacks of all sort to the right.

Without another glance at anything—or anyone for that matter—the blond made his way to the punch table and poured himself a glass, almost flinching at how cold it was. He had expected it to be warm and watered down, much like the current mode of the place, but the cold drink only relieved Kise's worries as he took long gulps. The punch was unusually strong but that didn't stop him from grabbing another cup, trying to find anything to do to distract him from the weak atmosphere around him.

"What's his name again? All I know is that he's dark and mysterious." Yet another voice called out to Kise as he continued to drink and hide in the quiet confines near the table. This host was starting to piss Kise off. How can you throw multiple parties, not even show up, and not even disclose who you are to your gusts? Another snort made its way out of Kise as he continued to drink his punch. He was unbelievably thirsty, and as he made his way to the punch bowl for a fourth cup, he heard a familiar giggling sound which stopped him in his tracks

He glanced in the direction of the voice and saw his sister in the living room area through the archway, laughing and talking to some other guys that looked like they were in college. Kise took a quick glance at their outfits—clean, pressed and smooth—and smiled to himself. He had forgotten what he was originally there for: to watch out for his host sister. Pushing his selfish attitude out of his train of thought, Kise stood in the dark corner of the kitchen and drank his punch—that was strangely strong—while watching the dancing bodies in the living room.

* * *

"Just who does he think he is? Writing something like that in our textbook. It's practically ruined now. He wrote on it with INK. He's such an idiot." The worlds flew out of his mouth before he could stop himself, and his eyelids drooped along with his arms and his legs felt heavy upon standing. Someone had came up to him and taken interest enough to actual start a conversation with the model.

Kise was, _undeniably_ , drunk.

After standing at the side of the punch table for nearly an hour, Kise's body felt extremely heavy and his movements suddenly turned sluggish. Everything he heard, or did, took two times as long to process through his brain. At one point he had even fell asleep, leaning against the wooden table as his only support. But even in his drunken state he had been able to figure out two things.

One, was that the source of him getting drunk was from the oddly strong punch, he had guessed that it was spiked.

And two, was that all of his dignity and pride was slowly seeping away. He was drunk and vulnerable, and anyone could've just came up to him and talked to him without the blond having the slightest idea what was going on.

And so that's what happened.

Someone had disturbed his quiet place and was now chatting away with Kise as if they were old friends. The model abruptly broke the conversation as he spoke his mind about a certain someone that had been on it for a while now. He couldn't get that damned Aomine out of his mind all night. He wasn't sure why, but every time he talked it was about the inexplicable guy.

"Is he really, now?" The stranger replied with a gruff voice and watched Kise's sluggish movements. The fluttering of the blond's eyelashes barely touching his cheeks when he closed his eyes. Or the smallest strand of hair that got stuck to his lip when he talked. All of those movements became the center of attention for the strangers dark blue eyes, and he was glad in that moment that the blond was drunk, for he probably looked like a creep to anyone else that could've been watching.

Fortunately for him, no one _was_ watching.

"Yes! I haven't even seen his face but when I do..." Kise broke the strangers train of thought as he brought his small hand up next to his face and clenched it into a fist. His eyes squinted and he tried his best to muster up an intimidating visage, despite the current state he was in. This action received a low chuckle from the other male as he tried his best not to rub his hand over the blond's lips or smell his golden hair.

"What are you going to do?" The stranger asked, almost tauntingly. He knew who the blond was, and from the way he was talking he thanked the heavens that the blond didn't know who he was, _yet_.

"I don't know! Probably scream in his ugly face! I need to speak to him right now!" Kise stuck out his lip to the stranger and he had to force down a breath he didn't know he was holding. The blond before him was unbelievably gorgeous, and it had been ages since he had seen, or even breathed upon, someone was delicate. When Kise opened his golden eyes he focused in on the stranger, taking in his features before him. Dark, handsome. Muscular; very, _very_ muscular. Short hair, blue eyes. Taller than him, sharp features. The stranger that he saw before him was 100% his type, and Kise could almost imagine himself in bed with the other until the strangers voice broke out into the stale air.

"You want to speak to Aomine then?" The stranger asked, cocking his head to the side to see if the blond would be able to catch on. Luckily for him he didn't, and the stranger figured that he would end this little game of ignorance after the blond has responded.

"Yes! Where is he?!" Kise's eyes held a dark emotion in them as he crumpled up the red plastic cup in his left hand a ran his right hand through his hair. He mumbled incoherent curses as he planned out what he would say once he got a hold of Aomine. The stranger chuckled again and, as a means of finally getting the blond to understand what kind of position he was in, leaned his face in close enough to Kise's, smelling the weird mix of alcohol and fruit punch that trickled out of his mouth. He brought his lips close to Kise's earlobe, making sure that no matter how loud the music was, the blond would be able to hear him. The hot breath of the stranger tickled his ear and Kise pushed his body back against the wall, feeling like a caged animal about to be feasted upon. He slowly turned his head to the stranger and could see a smirk rise on his lips.

It was then and there that he realized who he had been talking to.

"Right in front of you."

* * *

 **A/N** ;;Sigh idk what I'm doing anymore. I don't feel confident in this chapter at all and I've been slacking a lot. I'm trying to do other things in my life right now and I'd rather pump out really good qualify chapters over long periods of time rather than crappy ones that come out weekly. I know it's been a month, please forgive.

 **Kurokocchi** : Thank you so much ;_; haha. I'm glad you're hooked and I hope this delayed chapter didn't scare anyone away.

 **Nonny** : Thanks Nonny :3. I was actually thinking the same thing as I was reading over the chapters. I'm going to try and make him more IC because I know hat really molds a story and helps it fit together. Nonetheless, I'm working on it!

 **The Two Guests** : WELL LOOKY LOOKY IT HAS UPDATED haha. Thanks so much for your interest heheohoho.

If you want to send me a message my tumblr is Woirick. I'll respond faster there. And if there's a typo or anything seems out of place please let me know.

-Cryle


	4. Humiliation

**DISCLAIMER** :: I do not own KNB or its characters. However, I do own this story. Please do not redistribute without permission.

Chapter III: Humiliation

* * *

There was complete silence.

For the first time in his life Kise felt as if everyone was staring at him, mocking him. He didn't want to cause a scene, he just wanted to fade into the background like Kuroko had done in the last few years. He didn't want to be bothered. He didn't want to make a lot of friends and have to deal with the emotions of multiple people. He didn't want this. Not at all. But in the end he had embarrassed himself and broken the only promise he had made before moving to America.

And it was all crumbling down because of one guy.

"A-AOMINE?!" Kise's current state made him slur as he attempted to glare at the man above him. But the more he stared, the more he realized that his "book sharing partner" was more than what the rumors lead on.

He was beyond attractive.

Taller than Kise, with piercing dark blue eyes of his own and a matching hair color to go along with it. Kise was speechless. How to hell did he have blue hair? Was it natural? Did the drapes match the carpet?

His face. The look on his face left Kise breathless, almost frozen, almost tantalized.

His look was hard and stern as Kise's golden orbs gently traced every muscle, every jaw line and every curve of his face, every single movement made the blond melt and he realized that his eyes were lingering on the tanned males skin for too long, _way_ too long.

He was mad at himself for being so physically attracted to this delinquent. He was a delinquent, right? He skipped class, went through girl after girl and had the most intimidating-if not inappropriate-reputation that Kise had ever heard of.

But he still lingered, still looked over every muscle that was visible under his extremely tan-and enticing-skin, which reminded Kise of caramel chocolate.

And he wanted a bite.

"In the flesh." Aomine ironically said as he noticed Kise's persistent eyes on his skin. The blond's eyes suddenly shot back up and he pushed his hands in front of him to increase the distance between them. He knew that if he didn't, something in his brain would tell him to throw out all logic he had and fling himself on Aomine right then and there.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as he huffed and brought his hand up to ruffle his hair. He was a mess and he knew it. And he certainly didn't want Aomine out of all people to have this be his first impression of him.

Drunk and vulnerable. It couldn't get any worse.

"This is my party after all." Ok. It could get worse, a LOT worse. The gears clicked in Kise's head and he realized that the whole time he was with Aomine, he was speaking about how he wanted to punch him to his face! Without even knowing it was him!

"YOU'RE THE H-HOST?!..." Kise stuttered and held his head, he was undeniably screwed for the rest of the night-if not his whole life. The music that was blasting from the living room only got louder and the blond swore that his ear drums would burst if he couldn't get out of there.

Or maybe that was just his excuse for wanting to get away from Aomine. When in reality he wanted to screw him.

He had never been so physically attracted to someone like this before.

He cringed inside. He couldn't have loathed himself more.

"Yea. Why else would I be here? I don't go to parties that aren't mine." Aomine shouted a little cockily as he walked closer to Kise, a smug look plastered on his face. The smaller male swore that that look would send him overboard, and he pushed past Aomine and went to go look for Elle.

If he was the host, did that mean, Elle knew him? Knew about him all this time?

Kise ran past Aomine and didn't dare to look back. He didn't care if the tanned male with flawless muscles and a grin worth a thousand stars was chasing after him or not, he needed to get out of there before he made a bigger fool of himself in front of the person he wanted to impress.

He suddenly stopped in his tracks. Impress? No, no. That wasn't the right word. His mind was boggled and scrambled and he made the excuse that the alcohol had him screwed up.

Not impress. **Never** impress.

He didn't owe Aomine anything.

He didn't even like him in the slightest.

Kise stumbled into the living room with a pulsating headache, the music only increased as he moved closer to the sound. His vision was slightly blurred and he wanted to scream Elle's named out, but he knew that doing so would only make him lose his voice. Still, he hoped that somehow she would be able to hear him through the music and see him through the cheap smoke.

"Elle?! Elle?!" He coughed out, waving his hand through the air to try and clear his vision.

This is why he hated parties. Absolutely despised them and yet, here he was, wheezing and teary-eyed and lost in the crowd.

Kise swore on his grave that he must've done something right in his life because in that very fleeting moment of self-doubt, Kise saw Elle's beautiful hair swaying back and worth.

Without hesitation he ran up to her frantically, almost hysterical as he grabbed both of her shoulders and lightly shook her.

"Elle we have to-"

"Who the hell are you?! Get off me!" A slightly tipsy and angry girl turned around to slap Kise's hands off of her shoulders and grunted disgustingly.

Shit.

Now he felt even worse. Kise stuttered as his mind tried to come up with something clever to say.

"S-s-sorry." He voiced as quietly as a mouse, which went unheard by the strange girl as she scoffed and turned back around.

For the second time in his whole life, Kise was scared.

He felt lost, helpless, powerless, impotent,

 _weak_.

As he walked away from the girl and her drunk friends he stumbled and found himself pressed up against the back of someone much broader than him.

His heart fluttered.

He smelled the scent of the strange person he was leaned up on and almost melted. The stranger smelled of yellow bush daisies and dafodils.

They were the scent of Kise's favorite flowers.

Before he could push himself off of the body, the person turned around, startling the blond and having him go red in the face.

"O-oh. So-sorry." The blond tried to form a coherent sentence with his head pounding like crazy, and he saw the taller person turn around with a wide smile and beautiful rows of glistening white teeth.

"Hey man it's okay." The stranger looked muscular, way more than Kise and he was suddenly reminded of the tanned devil he had just escaped from, and quickly glanced around to see if he was anywhere near.

Sighing out of relief-or secretly disappointment-the blond didn't see Aomine anywhere near. He turned back to the stranger and stared, looking at his eyes that had him mesmerized.

There were too many hot guys here in America.

"Hey dude are you alright?" The male asked again, reaching a hand out to steady the blond that was suddenly shaking.

"U-uhm.." Kise nodded slowly and tried to stop shaking.

Everything he was doing tonight just seemed to get worse and worse.

"Hey man let me take you outside. You look like you need some air." The stranger spoke clearly and loudly enough for Kise to hear, but his brain was still processing thoughts too slowly. Before he could object, he was dragged out of the smoky, congested room by this stranger that was holding him tightly by the hand.

It was warm, he felt content. But only for that fleeting moment.

The cold air from outside startled the blond, and he coughed as he breathed in the clean, fresh air.

It took his mind and body a couple seconds to adjust to the suddenly new environment, and he felt as if his brain was cleared just because the smoke had vanished and the music was only a mumble in the background.

Kise looked back at the stranger that had freed him from what he felt was prison, and he nodded as he spoke to the male.

"Thanks... That was just too much for me." Kise nervously giggled and brought his hand out. He would still never forget the politeness that his family taught him growing up.

"Ryouta. Ryouta Kise." He said his name backwards to appeal to the male-assuming that he said first and last names respectively-but the male laughed and responded by shaking his hand.

Again, it was warm.

"It's okay. I'll call you Kise. I can tell you're Japanese but your English is amazing." The sudden comment had surprised the small blond, and he blushed slightly. He opened his mouth to ask the infamous question of who this guy was, but he was cut off by another toothy grin that made his stomach preform acrobatics.

"I'm Kagami. Kagami Taiga. If you feel more comfortable talking in Japanese, please feel free. I don't really know anyone else that knows both Japanese and English except for a couple of my friends. So if you ever get lost-" Kagami took out his phone and opened up the contact list, creating a new profile for Kise. He simply stared at the blond, waiting for him to realize he wanted his number.

"Oh. Yeah." He quickly typed it in and nodded again, his blond locks moving over his eyes slightly.

"-text me." The stunning redhead finished his sentence with a grin and a wave that again brought Kise's stomach to his heart. He gazed in amazement as the red head walked back into the toxic filled house.

* * *

 **A/N** ;; HEY GUYSSS WOOOOOOOOOH. I've decided that I'm going to start giving you shorter chapters while updating them more frequently. I think that would be better in the end I guess. What do you guys think? Shorter chapters with more updates or longer chapters with less updates? So yeah, I don't really have anything to add. Other then work and school are kicking my ass but you know, life.

 **Prettylittleliers** :: AHHH thank you thank you. This is exactly what I was going for. I hope that Aomine's attitude will make Kise open up and accept stuff about himself hehe.

 **Pureblood-Uchiha** :: Haha YAY. I'm glad you like it c: I hope to make you fangirl some more in the futureee.

 **Lauren** :: Thanks Lauren! Here is your update :).

As always, my tumblr is woirick, and if you have any questions or want to chat, please feel free to contact me.


	5. After All

**DISCLAIMER** :: I do not own KNB or its characters. However, I do own this story. Please do not redistribute without permission.

Chapter IV: After All

* * *

Kise awoke the next morning with a pulsating headache and cracked lips. As he squinted his eyes open, the window across from his bed blinded him with the sun's morning rays and it was enough for the small blond to groan and stuff his face back into his pillow.

 _His pillow?!_

He darted straight up and was met with a hard throb in his skull that made him lay back down. His golden eyes tried to adjust to his familiar room surroundings as he licked his chapped lips and rubbed his cheeks. He sighed after a while, lifting his torso up slowly this time to avoid any sudden spouts of dizziness and stared at nothing in particular.

"H-how...?" Kise let out a breath as he tried to remember how he got back into his room exactly. When he closed his eyes and attempted to rack his brain of the past events, another set of throbs ensued and he cursed himself for having so many spiked fruit punch drinks. He should've known better—really. From all the parties he attended back in his modeling days he knew how to catch if a drink was spiked or if someone was trying to drug him, or how under a certain light the liquid would turn a shade darker and reveal that it had been laxed with roofies.

He shuddered at the thought; what if those had been drugged and he woke up somewhere else that wasn't his room? Trying to not jinx himself he glanced down at the clothes he was wearing, praying that he wasn't naked or that marks weren't littered on his body.

The only thing he saw was his signature yellow pajamas with little red lipsticks and face mirrors on them.

"Ok... So I got dressed for bed properly... How did I get here?" The blond asked as he brushed random strands out of his face and got on his feet. The beating of his head started again and he decided that he would take tons of medicine before even thinking about leaving the house. He then glance at his night stand and saw that his phone was placed neatly on the charger and yesterday's clothes were folded by the hamper next to it.

Before questioning the neatness of it all, Kise grabbed his phone and checked his messages—a modeling habit—and saw that he had two new messages from an unknown number.

 _"Just checking up on you to make sure you didn't pass out in the middle of the street."_

"What?" Kise voiced out loud, too perplexed by the message to hear the noises coming from the hallway. It was like he was withdrawing into his own little bubble.

 _"It's Kagami(or Taiga[whichever you're comfortable with]) by the way."_

Kise instantly blushed as he read the second message out loud. The name strolled smoothly off his tongue and he could feel his cheeks turn a shade of rose. He had completely forgot that the red head asked for his number last night and he racked his brain for more details of what he looked like.

But the only thing he could remember was the brilliant, bold smile and the warmness of his hands.

He quickly saved the contact as "Kagamicchi" and typed back a reply just as fast.

 _You: "Sorry I just got up."_

Kise ruffled a hand through his hair and before he could think about anything else, he got a reply from Kagami.

 _Kagamicchi: "You're still at home? Class starts in a few. You do go to Johnson High right?"_

It was then at that very moment that Kise heard the familiar screech and the sound of blown gas as he rushed over to his window to peer out the blinds and see his bus stop in his neighborhood.

"Fuck shit damn hell" Kise sputtered the only curse words he knew in English and dashed to his digital clock. He picked it up in his hands desperately hoping that for some reason the bus was just really early or the time was off.

But alas, the clock read 8:15 and he knew that if he ran he could probably—maybe—get to school on time.

Running towards his closet with his phone still in his hand, Kise threw on the first thing he saw; which was a dark blue blazer and matching dark blue jeans.

* * *

Somehow, by the grace of some god, Kise found himself 2 minutes early when he busted through the two large front doors of his school. He knew he probably looked like a mess; hair flying all over his face, cloths not properly put on, his bag all over his shoulder.

Today was just one of those days that made Kise groan at every little annoyance. When he ran out of his house earlier that morning, he was greeted by Elle who was making breakfast before going off to college. Although he didn't have time to say anything or ask any questions about how the hell he ended up back home safely, he nodded to her and flew out the door.

So now he was frantically flying up the stairs to the third floor for his first class, basically saying sorry to anyone he bumped into.

"If I'm late oh my fuck oh my fuck!" He cursed under his breath, trying to realign his clothes and his hair as he ran. Kise would have been on time—he was sure of it—if it hadn't been for the body that he ran into from being too preoccupied.

He would have landed face first on the floor from the impact, if it wasn't for a hand that grabbed his wrist and pulled him back towards the body. Everything happened so fast that he was confused and stuttering again like he was last night and suddenly he remembered those dark muscles that were hidden under the equally dark skin. The eyes that had his locked onto his skin for ages; centuries even. The naturally dark blue hair that had Kise wondering if it was natural at all.

"A-Aomine?!" Kise stuttered again, unconsciously, as he jerked his wrist away from the hand that had helped him from falling.

He suddenly wished that he did fall so he wouldn't remember how insanely attractive this guy was. His own book sharing partner. The guy who had an insanely ridiculous reputation and was known as the badass. Why—all of a sudden—did Kise see him everywhere now?

When he looked up at the dark face, there was a grin of gold slapped on and his eyes were deep blue pools of what seemed like a blue midnight sky.

"Kise. Kise. Kise... Or shall I call you, _Ryouta_?" Aomine chuckled before withdrawing his hand, stuffing it back inside his pockets.

Kise seemingly forgot about being late and scoffed at Aomine's reply. He quickly fixed his bag on his shoulder and brushed his hair out of his eyes, hoping that he looked at least somewhat decent.

"I would rather you call me book sharing partner okay. Look I need to get to class or I'll be late." Kise was about to walk past Aomine but when I strong hand wrapped around his arm, he was suddenly forced back and saw those deep blue pools staring right into his gold ones.

"I saw the way your eyes were lingering on me at the party. I'm not an idiot you know. And why are you so worried about being late, Mr. Book Sharing Partner?" Aomine spoke superiorly and chuckled deeply when Kise huffed, insulted at being called out so blatantly. The blond didn't even take his words into consideration and he stomped down the hallway without looking back.

But there was something in his mind that told him to look back, something that acted upon lust and desire. Kise automatically shrugged it off as he remembered his promise before moving to America.

 _"No more guys... Not after my last ex."_

* * *

"Okay class! Everyone take a seat!" The teacher chimed as Kise barely made it through the door before the first bell rang. He easily slipped right past his math teacher and sat down in the back of the class. The blond hated math and was always tired during class but that didn't keep him from doing his work and remaining on top in all of his classes. He was always in the First Quarter, with a gpa of 100 on a 100 scale; due to his Advanced Placement classes being weighted.

He loved being on top, and he wouldn't let some delinquent like Aomine associate with him and keep him from achieving his goals.

"Oh Ryouta! I have a note for you!" Kise's math teacher called out as she made her way to the back of the class. Suddenly all eyes were on Kise and he wondered if he could possibly be in trouble. He hated the way everyone stared at him expectantly and he could feel his body start to squirm in his seat.

"Mr. Garrison wants you to meet up with him every morning to discuss something about his textbook assignments." She flashed a toothy grin and slapped a note down on his desk that had the sloppy hand-writing of a doctor on it. Kise was stunned, but nonetheless he still nodded and stood up.

"May I go now? And will I be excused every morning?" Kise asked and was only awarded with a note as she shimmied her way back to the front of the class.

The blond internally sighed and grabbed his phone before making his way back outside the classroom. He could still hear the teacher rambling on about asymptotes and he was suddenly glad that he had left.

The blond started walking down the hall to Mr. Garrison's room when a hand landed on top of his shoulder, startling him to death.

"What the-!" Kise practically screamed, swatting at the hand that landed on his shoulder.

"Boo!" The stranger laughed as he brought back his hand, "sorry sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said again, running a hand through his hair. Kise glared up at the voice and for some reason was more than happy to find that it was Kagami.

"Jesus Kagami! I almost had a heart attack!" Kise fake punched Kagami's chest and he suddenly hesitated. He felt so comfortable with Kagami and he didn't know why. It scared him; reminded him of his ex boyfriend.

"Where are you going anyways?" The red head asked, glancing at the note in Kise's hand.

"Oh Garrison needs me for something."

"...okay... But that doesn't explain the note. Why did Aomine write that?" Kagami asked again, suspicion written all over his face. Kise visibly flinched and brought the note up to his face, examining the hand writing and realizing that the chicken scratch was in fact—not Mr. Garrison's.

"H-how do you know Aomine?" The blond asked again, disappointment in his golden eyes. He stuffed the note in his back pocket, suddenly offended. He had really hoped that his new friend knew nothing of that dark-skinned devil.

"He's a close friend. We go way back." Kagami replied in a soft voice, sensing the defense in Kise's stance. He scratched the back of his neck to try and ease the awkward tension that suddenly started to blanket around the two.

"Oh.." Kise voiced out, eyes searching the ground. He swallowed the lump that grew in his chest, and suddenly remembered why he was in the hallway in the first place.

"Then what does Aomine want?.." Kise asked again, snatching the note back out of his pocket and re-reading it as if he missed some important detail, "and where the hell is he?" Despite how much Kise had despised of Aomine, there wasn't a single thought in his mind that told him to just go back to the classroom.

"Probably on the roof." Was Kagami's simple response as he suddenly started to walk in the opposite direction, "follow me."

The blonde felt compelled to follow, so he did. They maneuvered through multiple halls and went up a flight of stairs in the back of the school. The tan colored walls seemed monotonous and Kise had to hold the bridge of his nose. He did like school, but the fact that his building was nothing but tan walls and white lockers annoyed him. When they got to the seemingly secret "forth floor", there was a storage room next to a window that was slightly cracked open. Kagami glanced at Kise and winked, basically telling him that through that window was Aomine and the roof.

"No one will notice. Just pop through that window."

"What about the cameras?! And I'm sorry but that window is too high; I'm not spiderman." Kise huffed, folding his arms over his chest yet again. Kagami chuckled and motioned his head towards the storage closet.

"There's a ladder in there. The janitor never locks the door. And the camera is shut off. They're reinstalling new ones. Have fun." Kagami winked again and started descending down the stairs, leaving Kise to do everything all on his on. The blond huffed, trying to adjust his blue blazer and white shirt underneath. He ran his hands through his hair.

He was nervous.

And he didn't know if it was because of Aomine or because he knew he could get into a lot of trouble.

He quickly walked towards the storage room and twisted the door knob, slowly opening the door. It was dark and musty and Kise immediately wished he hadn't gone through with all of this. He saw the ladder in the corner and swiftly grabbed it. He didn't want to get caught, but he didn't want to make too much noise either.

The ladder creaked in his grasp as he slowly pushed it up against the wall. He glanced upwards at the window and sighed.

It was now or nothing.

He grabbed the side and put his foot on the bar, slowly climbing up the ladder. No one was there but he felt as if all eyes were on him. When he got to the top he creaked open the window and closed his eyes in pain as the sun blinded him.

"Shit!" He cursed under his breath. Kise slowly opened his eyes to try and readjust to the new light as he climbed through the window and onto the roof.

"Took you long enough." A gruff voice said and Kise immediately froze. He probably looked like an idiot, struggling to get up onto the roof. He noticed that it was slanted, which scared him even more than he already was. And there was no gate, no boundary to keep you from falling off because no one was suppose to be up there anyway.

"Sorry I'm kinda new to this." Kise grimaced, slowly walking over to Aomine. The tanned brute was sprawled out on the roof as if it was his bed, which irritated Kise even more than he already was. But the thing that got to him the most was the way Aomine didn't even bother looking at him, the way the sun hit his skin and the way his muscles visually flexed under his clothes. Annoyed beyond belief, Kise decided to get straight to the point.

"Why did you-"

"Why aren't you afraid of me?" Aomine got straight to the point as well. Peeking one slanted eye open and staring at Kise, effectively cutting the blond off and making him freeze once again.

"What?" The blonde asked unbelievably. "No no you've got it all wrong. I want nothing to do with you." Kise scoffed, trying his best to not look intimidated. The wind blew through his hair and he hoped that it covered up the heat he felt in his cheeks.

"Bullshit. You don't run away or avoid me. Well I mean you did when you were drunk, but you were drunk." Aomine closed his eyes again and sighed.

"Look, Daiki Aomine, I don't know what you're trying to pull but I really have to get back to class." Kise spat and turned around a little too quickly, effectively losing his footing and slipping off the roof.

It was over.

He braced himself, he knew he was going to die. Aomine would laugh as he plummeted to the ground. But he didn't feel the wind blowing through his hair and the whistle of the air in his ear. He didn't hear the screams from people in the classroom as he fell from the sky. He heard a jolted grunt, and suddenly the sky got darker.

He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder that traveled all the way up to his arm, and the warm embrace of a hand in his. His eyes were squinted shut, and he slowly creaked them open in confusion.

What he saw would be embedded in his mind forever.

"Looks like you're the one pulling the stunts here, Ryouta." Aomine chuckled, holding up Kise's weight with only one arm. He didn't even look like he was struggling. The blond was too scared to even think properly and he couldn't even vocalize his thoughts. The only thing that exited his mouth was a muted cry, and Aomine responded accordingly.

With one swift movement, Aomine effectively pulled Kise back up and he landed on the roof on his hands and knees, breathing rapidly and shaking violently. He had almost died. And Aomine Daiki saved him. Our of all the people in the world. Aomine's previous nonchalant demeanor disappeared as he saw the state Kise was in.

"Hey.. Are you okay?" Aomine went to go touch Kise's shoulder and to his surprise, he wasn't slapped away. The blond just shook his head, the adrenaline from before escaping him in sobs and violent shakes. It all happened to quickly, and he couldn't quite come to terms with himself yet.

"I... I c-could've ..." He stuttered, raising his head and searching for Aomine's eyes. He was met with a small nod and a solemn look, which he had never seen on Aomine and was 100% sure that no one else did either.

"Yeah.. But you're okay." Aomine patted Kise's shoulder awkwardly, obviously not familiar with the whole idea of comforting. The blond just nodded, slowly coming down from his violent shakes and sobs. He rubbed his eyes, groaning as he did so.

"Thank you." Was all that he said as he stared at Aomine, hoping that the asshole wouldn't come back and laugh at his stupidity. Before Aomine could talk he added,

"and I'm not afraid of you. I just think you and I are like oil and water." Kise coughed, slowly standing up. He braced himself, knowing that one more sudden slip up could get him falling to his death again.

"Well. Maybe if you got to know me, you would know that these rumors are not who I am." The tanned male replied, staring a little too long at Kise before laying back down and putting his hands behind his head.

"We are partners for the rest of the year—after all." He added again, before yawning and closing his eyes. Kise just stared for a movement, perplexed more than anything.

And maybe—just maybe—he would acknowledge the voice inside his head that told him to "get to know him".

"You did save my life—after all."

* * *

 **A/N** ;; mmMmMMMMMMMMM I'm literally uploading this before running off to work LOL. I want to try and have something significant to happen at the end of every chapter so yeah! I hope you guys liked it. I also don't want them to get into a relationship too fast. But not too slow either. Anyways, tell me what you guys think. I would reply to everyone's reviews but as I said before I'm literally running off to work as I type this.

I love all of you and thank you for taking the time to read this!

If you have questions, comments or concerns, my tumblr is woirick and I will probably respond faster there.


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